Filner steps down in deal with San Diego City Council

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner stepped down on Friday after the City Council voted to accept his resignation as part of a settlement deal concerning the embattled mayor’s future.

Eighteen women have so far accused the Democratic mayor of sexual harassment, including his former communications director, who is now represented by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred in a lawsuit against Filner and the city. After City Council officials announced Filner’s exit on Friday, the mayor delivered a speech that was by turns apologetic and accusatory.

Text Size

-

+

reset

Filner steps down citing 'hysteria'

Who are the Filner accusers?

“Those of you in the media and politics who fed this hysteria need to look at what you helped create,” Filner charged. “Because you have unleashed a monster. I think [we’ll] be paying for this affront to democracy for a long time.”

In the speech, he also asserted that “I’ve never sexually harassed anyone.”

Filner, lawyers and city representatives spent three days in mediation talks this week and reached a deal on Wednesday. The San Diego City Council assessed the proposal in a meeting Friday afternoon and determined that the city would establish a joint legal defense fund to handle certain complaint claims as part of the settlement deal, which passed on a 7-0 vote.

The Friday afternoon announcement capped off weeks of high drama as the accusations piled up against the 70-year-old former congressman, who was elected to lead San Diego in November. Filner apologized to the city for his “own personal failures,” chalking them up to “awkwardness and hubris,” and said that he had “no intention to be offensive” to women, even as he also claimed that he was the victim of a “lynch mob.”

“In a lynch mob mentality, rumors become allegations, allegations become facts, facts become evidence of sexual harassment, which have led to demands for my resignation and recall,” he said.

Filner also said he still loved his ex-fiancee, who appeared a day earlier at a press conference with Allred to reiterate her position that Filner should step down.

Allred, who participated in some of the mediation talks, wasn’t present when a final deal was hammered out, and on Thursday, she urged the city council to turn down any agreement that would have the city cover Filner’s legal liabilities.

“If the deal requires that the city council pay him one dollar, then I, for one, think that they should vote against it,” she said at a press conference. “There should be no payoff for Mayor Filner. It would be a slap in the face to the mayor’s many victims to see him get anything from the city of San Diego.”

Following Filner’s official resignation, a special election to fill his seat must be called within 90 days. Former Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher already has signaled interest in running, filing papers this week that will allow him to begin fundraising. Former Councilman Carl DeMaio — currently running as a Republican for Congress — could also get into the race, along with a host of others.

Filner, San Diego’s first Democratic mayor in two decades, also served 10 terms in Congress, but this summer has drawn the ire of leading national Democrats including California senators, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The DNC also voted on Friday for a resolution calling on him to resign.